Abnormal Psychology - Essay Example

Abnormal Psychology Antisocial Personality Disorder has genetic and physiological causes. According to the text, adopted children of criminals with this disorder rate high in criminality (physiological cause). Criminality involves getting into trouble. Individuals with Antisocial personality Disorder often get into legal trouble because they are usually not remorseful and always are in trouble because of committing actions that are against the law. Criminality however may be caused by socio-economic status of the individual and that isn’t the case with Antisocial Personality Disorder. Psychopathy is a collection of several characteristics that a psychopath usually has. These characteristics are manipulation and highly gullible to lying. The above characteristics are almost similar to those of individuals presenting with Antisocial Personality Disorder hence similar. Psychopaths are prone to boredom with makes them commit certain acts but people with antisocial personality disorder are not motivated by boredom. A person being exposed to traumatic events like loss of parents or those who experience inconsistent discipline and punishment are highly prone to developing an antisocial personality (Barlow and Durand 432). 2. One overlap is lack of close friends or being loners (schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder). Impulsivity is another overlap in individuals with antisocial personality disorder and those with borderline personality disorder). Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder and those with histrionic personality disorder both have need for attention. These overlaps may bring about misdiagnosis to the patient as the symptoms are almost similar. Failure to diagnose an individual with the correct personality disorder also brings about the issue of labeling and stigmatization which can have long negative effects on that particular individual. 3. One of the clustering characteristics is based on emotional or behavioral traits of that particular individual being assessed for example being aggressive or anxious. The other characteristic is the onset that is when the symptoms started showing in an individual whether it was during adolescence or adulthood. Whether the symptoms are consistent or not in that individual are checked as one of the characteristics of determining the personality disorder and finally whether the symptoms experienced by the individual cause him or her significant impairment in daily life is also checked for example causing the individual not to form long-lasting relationships due to social anxiety. A cluster like being too much anxious may be as a result of excess hormones being produced in the brain which may also lead to behavioral problems like aggression. 4. Personality is the social, emotional and psychological definition of an individual. Personality development is influenced by factors such as parental-sibling relationship, social support systems of an individual, the environment the individual is brought up in based on issues of security among others. Mood disorders are marred by hallucinations and bizarre behaviors present when the individual is in high or low mood. Anxiety disorders are characterized by feelings of uncertainty and high emotions. Personality disorders are characterized by symptoms that are almost similar with symptoms of both anxiety and mood disorders and also aggression and anxiety. Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder have grandiose thoughts which lead them to undertaking certain actions thinking that they are immune to consequences. Some think that they are famous movie characters and start therefore acting like them. During treatment, such grandiose thoughts and acting can be modified through cognitive behavioral therapy to minimize them step by step and eventually eliminate them. 5. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by extreme mood swings (either high or low) and also marked by bizarre behaviors, while paranoid schizophrenia is a disorder marked by hallucinations, suspicions and delusions. Both bipolar and paranoid schizophrenia have similarities in that they both are marked by hallucinations (visual and/ or auditory), delusions of persecutions and grandeur, they also have agitation and sleep disturbances. On the other hand, bipolar disorder has symptoms of extreme mood swings and behaviors that are inappropriate unlike paranoid schizophrenia which has no mood swings but symptoms of suspicions. Due to the extreme mood swings, mood stabilizers like Lithium are prescribed as the medication for individuals with bipolar disorder. On the other hand, people with paranoid schizophrenia are prescribed antipsychotic drugs due to the hallucinations, delusions and suspicious symptoms. Mood stabilizers slow down the nervous system which in turn regulates the moods of the person with the bipolar disorder. Antipsychotics reduce the activity of the nerves and the brain hence decreasing the hallucinations and the other symptoms present in paranoid schizophrenic individual. 6. Biological viewpoint asserts that the mental disorders are as a result of chemical or physiological dysfunction in the brain, this viewpoint may not necessarily be correct on all medical disorders. One group of drugs is the antidepressants provided to individuals with symptoms of depression. The other group is the mood stabilizers provided to individuals with bipolar disorder, and then there are antipsychotics provided to individuals like those with paranoid schizophrenia. The last group is the anxiolytics also prescribed to individuals with certain mental disorders. Some of the positive outcomes of these medications include stabilizing of moods, nervous control and reducing or managing depression. The negative impacts are dependency on the drugs and overuse may lead to death of the patient. 7. One sexual disorder is hypoactive sexual desire marked by reduced interest in sexual desire. The other type is the male erectile disorder where a man or boy fails to get an erection even after being sexually stimulated. The third type is orgasmic disorder where either the male or the female fails to achieve an orgasm during sexual activity. One diagnostic challenge in determining whether an individual has hypo arousal or orgasmic disorder is individuals not reporting truthfully their sexual issues. The other is the fact that not many individuals would want to participate in a sexual research trying to differentiate the two issues. The feed forward process involved in development of sexual desire has four steps which are similar with the development of anxiety disorders. The first is having a negative sexual experience which leads to the individual being embarrassed, then becomes fearful of having the experience repeated and this leads to developing anxiety. In most anxiety disorders, the individual experiences a traumatic event which causes great embarrassment and fear of the event being repeated causes anxiety to the level that it impairs significant functioning (Barlow and Durand 346). 8. One degenerative disorder is vascular dementia, the second is substance-induced persisting dementia and the third type is dementia due to other general medical conditions like Huntington’s disease. The causes of the disorders include old age, brain activity degeneration, reduced brain ACH activity and also substance overuse and abuse may cause degenerative disorders. The above disorders are marked by symptoms like brain atrophy where the brain gradually slows down in its functioning. The other symptom is that the individual experiences multiple deficits in cognitive functioning evident in language, motor functions and in recognition. The disorders are common among the elderly people. These disorders can be differentiated from other disorders by examining the onset of the disorder (it is common in elderly people), symptoms like cognitive impairment which is not common for schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Most psychiatric disorders are characterized by emotional of behavioral difficulties symptoms which is not the case with the degenerative disorders. 9. Obsessive compulsive personality disorder is a personality disorder marked with preoccupation with detail, being perfect and wanting to always be in control. Obsessive compulsive disorder is a disorder also marked by the need for perfection and extreme order. In the obsessive compulsive personality disorder however, the problem is long-term and the onset may be in adolescence while in obsessive compulsive disorder, the problem is usually short-term and the onset may be in adulthood. Paranoid personality disorder is a personality disorder marked by distrust, suspiciousness and misinterpreting motives while paranoid schizophrenia is a sub type of schizophrenia marked by symptoms of hallucinations and delusions. Individuals of both paranoid personality disorder and those of paranoid schizophrenia have extreme distrust with other people and therefore fail to confide with anyone for fear of persecution or attack. Borderline is a personality disorder characterized by impulsiveness, paranoia and mood shifts while bipolar is a mood disorder characterized by extreme mood swing, hallucinations and delusions. In both borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, individuals and impulsive in their behaviors some of which are risky for their health and their moods also shift sometimes drastically. 10. The first step is to examine the patient’s cognition of basics like day, date, the reason for being there among others. The next step is to test the patient’s thought process including how they are processing information within their surroundings, their thought content (whether it is in line with what is being discussed) and finally test their memory of issues in their lives among others. The cognitive disorders to rule out include depression, dementia and delirium due to their causes. Dementia as a cognitive disorder is marked by cognitive deficits in areas like language, motor functioning and recognition which are due to reduced brain activity. Delirium on the other hand is marked by changes in cognitive ability like perceptions; they also experience attention deficits and consciousness disturbance. Depression is a cognitive disorder characterized by reduced attention, memory lapses and consciousness disturbance (Barlow and Durand 534). 11. One common symptom of cognitive disorders is memory deficit which includes memory loss for most individuals. The other is impaired cognition and finally thought process is not congruent with their actions or what is happening in their surroundings. Alzheimer’s is best characterized by symptoms such as impaired motor functions, brain atrophy and impaired recognition. It is caused by brain damage of the neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaque. It is also genetic caused by multiple genes. Alzheimer’s is a generative disorder. It is usually slow at the early stages but it starts becoming more rapid as time continues into the middle stages. The intervention for this disorder is therapy basically cognitive behavioral therapy and also family therapy. 12. Psychological therapies are effective in treatment of schizophrenia especially paranoid schizophrenia and catatonic schizophrenia. Individuals with extreme cases of these schizophrenia subtypes are subjected to therapies like electroconvulsive therapy. Psychological therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy have been evidenced to be effective among individuals with personality disorders. There is also evidence of psychological therapies being ineffective like in treatment of extreme cases of dementia and Alzheimer’s disorder. This is mostly because the disorders have caused extreme malfunction in that individual to unmanageable levels. The most effective type of therapies is use of medication and cognitive behavioral therapies. Personality disorders which mostly are characterized by behavior deficits are responsive to cognitive behavioral therapy to modify the behavior problem and on extreme cases; medication is used to stabilize the individual. Cognitive disorders respond well to medication to boost their memory and speech therapy to assist with the language deficits. 13. The Lumber man had disorganized speech and behavior the same as the veteran who had disorganized schizophrenia. He also had delusions and hallucinations the same as what the veteran was experiencing at that time. The lumber man together with the veteran both presented with inappropriate feelings and also had flat affect written all over their face like they were not humans. In the ‘On Top of the World’, Barbara who had mood disorder presented with symptoms of extreme mood swings. These symptoms were shared by lumber man too. 14. Sociocultural factor like education levels of individuals influence what they perceive as “normal” sexual behaviors or not normal. Some of these include masturbation. Educated individuals accept masturbation as a normal sexual behavior compared with non-educated individuals. This has however not always been the case as individuals in the past saw it as a sin but the present individuals accept it as normal. Rich people have less chances of developing cognitive decline as they have ways of managing stressful factors and situations and effective relaxation techniques most of which involve money which the poor cannot afford. This has always been the case even in the past generations. The society’s change in definition of abnormal behavior has made there to be development of treatment measures uniform to the disorder the individuals are suffering. Humane treatments are also being applied nowadays as a result of change in the definition of abnormal. Individuals with abnormality are not being cast away from the community or being locked up in dungeons like in the past. This has been greatly due to more research being carried out in the field of abnormal psychology hence shedding more light on the issue. 15. The individual in the vignette seems like a perfectionist wanting everything to be in order. The individual can therefore be said to have obsessive compulsive personality disorder. The reason for this is that he seems to be a workaholic based on the pen he is holding in his hand and the background of the photo of what seems to be an office. Based on his facial expression, perfect hair and beard, he seems a perfectionist in the making not wanting anything to be out of place or disorderly. He also seems rigid from the facial expression he is displaying. The above described characteristics match some off the symptoms of individuals presenting with obsessive compulsive personality disorder hence the reason for choosing that diagnostic category. 16. As an individual age, the brain starts degenerating hence slowing down and becomes less active and so does all the other functions of the body thereby exposing the individual to psychological disorders like degenerative and cognitive disorders. One reason for this is loss of brain activity as one ages, the other reason is reduction of hormones in several parts of the body hence disorders related to hormonal reduction. The third reason is fear of aging and losing control of most of the bodily functions and this fear may develop to become anxiety disorder. As people age, hormonal production in pituitary glands and gonads reduce which leads to difficulties in for example sexual intercourse which may lead to the person developing vaginismus (sexual disorder). Individuals when aging start developing irrational fear of the negative physical effects that accompany old age like the onset of menopause and climacteric. The fear may increase to the level where it develops into anxiety or phobia and causing significant impairment in the individual. Reference Barlow, David and Durand, Mark. Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach. California: Cengage Learning, 2011. Read More